you. >> thank you. look at the big board as we watch this massive selloff. about to hear the closing bell. the dow down 300 points here the day after election day. and of course much of this has to do with the looming fiscal cliff as we will await congress to hopefully make some kind of agreement. there was the bell. thanks so much for being with me here on this day after election day. special coverage continues with wolf blitzer in washington. hey, wolf. brooke, thanks very much. happening now, the president of the united states is on his way back to washington right now for four more years in the white house. you're going to see his return to the white house during this program. also, republicans still control the house of representatives. will the president find anymore cooperation in his second term than during his first? and after passage of an historic ballot question, how soon will it be until people in colorado can light up a marijuana cigarette legally? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

right now president obama's aboard air force one. he's heading east from chicago. he's already reaching out to congressional leaders trying to set the agenda for his second term in office. across the country today americans awoke to banner headlines from re-elected in the president's hometown "chicago tribune" to "obama wins in his adopted city" "the washington post." the "new york times" proclaimed it's obama's night while "los angeles times" told readers it's obama again. even though florida still hasn't officially been called for either candidate, the miami herald says it's obama. cnn white house correspondent brianna keilar's been keeping track of what the president's been doing since his victory

speech early this morning. brianna, the president should be landing back in washington very soon taking marine one over to the white house. he's got a full agenda ready i assume. >> reporter: he does. and i will tell you, wolf, the white house is keeping it under wraps as far as what happens after he arrives at the white house. but we know he'll land obviously at andrews air force base. we're expecting that not too long after 5:00 eastern. and then he'll come here to the white house landing on the south lawn in marine one. the first time he's been back to the white house knowing that he'll be here for another four years. this morning he did wake up in chicago as we await for him to leave chicago he called con gregs gnat leaders, democrats and republicans in both the house and senate before making his way to the airport stopped by his campaign headquarters to meet with hundreds of volunteers and staff members and really thank them. we understand people were standing on desks trying to get a look at him. they gave him a standing occasion as he entered the room. but he's coming back, wolf, as you know to some serious reality

and a plate of a lot of work on his hands. obviously as he's already reaching out to congressional leaders. as you know, here at the end of december tax cuts -- all kinds of tax cuts including bush-era tax cuts set to expire january 2nd. those spending cuts from sequestration go into effect. and in february he has to send a budget to congress. you're looking at a debt ceiling that may need to be increased in february. and in march it's potentially the stage set for a government shutdown if congress and the white house can't agree on a way forward to fund the federal government. he has a busy, busy schedule here in the coming months, wolf. >> and we're going to be standing by for live coverage once he lands at andrews air force base and then choppers over to the south lawn of the white house on marine one. what he does after that i'm sure there will be a really ruckus joyous reception from the white house staff for the president. we'll cover that as well. brianna, thank you. let's continue this conversation with our chief political analyst

gloria borger, chief political correspondent candy crowley and "new york times" political correspondent jeff. what is the most important thing the president needs to do to set off his second term in the right direction? >> well, fix the fiscal cliff. somehow. really his most important job in the next four years is the same job he had the first four years, fix the economy. and the first step toward that is somehow making sure that these tax increases at some level and these spending cuts do not go into effect december 31st. simple. >> he's got a mission. you know these exit polls showed something very interesting, gloria. 47%, an unusual number, but 47% of the people in the exit polls say they would support tax increases for those making more than $250,000 a year. that's what the president wants to do. he wants to raise taxes. we just heard a little while ago

from the house speaker, john boehner, saying he's open to increase tax revenues if it comes from tax reform. >> right. >> not necessarily hikes in the tax rate. >> right. i mean, the speaker made it's clear it's got to be part of a broader package of tax reform. which is i think what everybody kind of understands and knows. i think the challenge for the president right now and i was talking to a senior democrat who said, look, i do expect the president to come out towards the end of this week either in a press conference or in a statement to talk about the fiscal cliff. the question is, how specific he will be and how detailed he will be. will he put something on the table and say, okay, i'm up for tax reform, let's fix thing ths way. let's kick a very large can down the road for a very short time. and i promise you here's a framework of what i want to do. give me the framework of what you want to do. and let's work together. >> counter to how he governed the first four year. >> exactly.

or will he come out and say let's fix this. let's get together. the question is has he changed, i think. >> he put out a framework in general terms how he could see some sort of compromise emerge. he says he wants to reach out and reach a deal with the president of the united states. the president presumably will say something similar, but the real negotiations won't be in public. they'll be behind the scenes. >> yes. absolutely. this isn't all that much different by the way than what mitt romney had said for a while which was, oh, sure, we're open to closing loopholes and all that. we're not going to raise the tax rates. and this is -- it was clear to me from what speaker boehner said that they are not interested in letting those tax increases go up on those making $250,000 or more. and the president said i'm going to veto anything that comes to me that doesn't raise those taxes. so i realize that everybody says nice things the day after an election, but it reminds me whenever we come up on a tragedy

that involves guns, everybody the next day is talking about how we have to tone down the rhetoric and how we have to all work together. and then it evolves. >> but the republican party has a problem. if you look at the exit polls last night, less than 20% of voters think that mitt romney cared about people like them. remove mitt romney, make it the republican party. the question is how does the republican party again become the party that represents the middle class? this is what they have to be thinking about. so the question is on the tax issue, will there be any give on the taxes for the wealthy? i mean, maybe they raise the bar about how you define what wealthy is. >> candy, somebody is going to have to blink in these negotiations. >> right. >> you've got november and december. that's it. >> and you're also looking at a speaker who has -- i haven't seen the latest figures but could pick up a couple of seats. >> right. >> i realize that the republican party is seen as in trouble.

that's true at the presidential level. it's true in the demographic level. it's true at the senate level. it's not true at the house level. and that's always been how it's been. >> the president won majority of the popular vote. he had an impressive electoral college win once again. how much of a mandate does he have to go for? >> again, he won re-election, so, a, that's the mandate. but if you look at the exit polls, you have a country in which 77% of the people thinks that the economy is bad. okay. think we're headed down the wrong track. so this president was re-elected by an american public who thought he can help the middle class, but they don't think their economic situation is great. so what kind of a mandate does he have? his mandate is to fix things. and i think that's about as far as it really goes. >> but presidents define their own mandates. we saw that with george w. bush.

>> right. >> came in said, hey, i won and we're going to change social security. it didn't work. but nonetheless he even felt after the first election in 2000 that he had a mandate. so you either go in there and you seize control and roll the dice, or you work and say okay, the country's clearly split and we've got to find something -- >> hold on a second. brianna keilar's with us at the white house. you were at the president's campaign headquarters. you did excellent job covering what was going on last night. at what point did they finally realize this was going to be an excellent night for the president? >> reporter: you know, they seemed pretty confident early on. they seemed relaxed. and they seemed calm. but obviously, i think, they were waiting ultimately until ohio, until they could really breathe a sigh of relief because there were obviously a lot of concerns about the recounts. but i think they were looking and seeing the margins that they were winning in some of those battleground states. and they felt like it was going to be a good night for them. remember, we heard even days before and yes, it was spin, but

it turned out to be true from some of the president's top campaign advisors -- pardon the wind here at the white house -- they thought they were going to win the electoral votend the popular vote and there was some folks wondering about that. but i also think, wolf, now you're moving on very much to reality. and that's so much what president obama is going to be confronting as he just steps out of marine one here on the south lawn. you're talking about what to do about the fiscal cliff. one of the things that strikes me having covered congress is he came into power four years ago was that he did obviously have such a large mandate then with so much support. but you could see as the weeks wore on, as the months wore on and very soon into his tenure you could see the political capital start to wane. he doesn't have the political capital he had in 2008. that also creates issues with punting on some stopgap measure to deal with the fiscal cliff. this is something that is going to expire just as the days and the weeks go on as he tries to work with republicans towards a

solution. >> and briefly, candy, one final question to you. you're just back from boston. you were y thereto romney campaign last night. they went in pretty upbeat. they thought they might have a good chance of winning, didn't they? >> they did. but i have to tell you that there was a certainty about the obama campaign even two weeks out. i talked to a senior strategist who said i'm not, you know, i'm not kidding you here. that's cleaned up version. i'm not kidding you here, candy,ly show you the figures afterwards. we have this. they were certain. there was an optimism in the romney camp. but it wasn't based on the numbers. it was based on the feel of things. and one thing you know when you cover a campaign, the feel of things can be really deceiving. >> numbers are more important than an -- >> if there is a mandate coming out of this, it is that you saw in the exit polls by a two-to-one margin, people believe there should be a path

to citizenship for immigrants in this country. and i think if there's any mandate for republicans and democrats coming out of this, it is to get immigration reform done. >> we're going to have much more on this part of the story. i'm taking another look at their strategy going down the road. guys, thanks very much. mitt romney's kept a low profile today. we got a glimpse of him when his close aide tweeted this picture along with a caption that read "gov hanging out with family this morning. what an incredible family. so blessed to be so close to them." president obama won't need moving trucks for another four years. we're going to watch his family's return to washington after a grueling time out there on the campaign trail. and two states take extraordinary steps towards legalizing marijuana. we're taking a closer look at the clash between voters out there and the drug enforcement agency. ♪

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it was a big day yesterday for advocates for legalizing marijuana. voters in washington state and colorado approved ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana for recreational use. but the measures could be challenged in court. the colorado governor john hickenlooper said in a press conference, and i'm quoting now "this will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. that said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug. so don't break out the cheetos or goldfish too quickly." it stands that it's illegal to sell, possess or use marijuana. i'm joined by cnn's legal analy analyst jeffrey toobin. we're talking about marijuana for recreational purposes. there's a big difference. >> it is. and the governor is quite clear and right. it is not legal under federal

law to possess marijuana. now, what makes this a peculiar situation is that in most jurisdictions when i was assistant u.s. attorney in new york, we had rules. we didn't prosecute under federal except very large quantities of marijuana. we left that to the states. here, apparently, the state is not going to prosecute. but even though the federal government doesn't generally prosecute, it's still illegal. so obviously there has to be some sort of negotiation here or people are taking a terrible risk. >> so what's the next legal step? the folks in colorado think that they're going to be able to go buy marijuana and use it for fun, whatever, and the federal government says not so fast. >> right. when the federal government government -- the obama administration has been quite clear that they are going to enforce federal law. so if there is some sort of con speck would you say attempt to defy federal law. if somebody tries to open a pot brownie store in downtown

denver, you can be sure the federal government is going to bust it. i think this is likely to lead to some sort of public education. and congress some people are seriously talking about legalizing marijuana. but in terms of actual change in colorado, i just don't think much is going to happen here because the federal government is not going to be bullied by a state that has a personal preference. this is a law that applies in all 50 states, congress has spoken, congress at least so far hasn't changed its mind. so i think this is the beginning of a dialogue. but in terms of actual legalities, nothing's changed and people really be taking a risk. >> this is sort of like arizona passes tough immigration law which the federal government says that isn't consistent with federal law. federal law they say trumps the state law. in this particular case, if the obama administration and the d.e.a. insist they say federal law which says marijuana is illegal will trump state law in colorado? >> well, it's very similar except that it's much clearer in

this case. remember the arizona law the supreme court split five-to-four. some parts of the law were fusional, some were not. that area of the law can be complicated and difficult to predict. this is not complicated. it is straight up conflict and quite clear under the constitution that the federal government is in charge here. that said, in situations like that there are sometimes negotiations about how things work. but since there haven't been those negotiations yet, the federal government is in charge here. and it's illegal. and people would be taking a big risk if they con speck yously smoke spot. >> so the advice from the governor was right. >> yes. hold off. or go to california and get a prescription. >> thank you. both parties predicted victory on election day. but for mitt romney something went wrong on the way to 270 electoral votes. we're going to do the math to see what happened. john king is standing by. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time,

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both campaigns said they were very confident going into election day. so what went right for president obama and very wrong for his republican challenger mitt romney? i'm joined now by our chief national correspondent john king. we spend a lot of time together over here at this magic wall yesterday. let's recap what went right, what went wrong for these two candidates. >> and we should note florida's still gold because we haven't had to call it yet. the county still continues, the president leads. this is our electoral map. what went right for president obama, wolf, is campaigns often

make grand promises. in this case the obama campaign said exactly what it would do. if you look exactly at the map, governor romney picked up indiana and north carolina from the president's coalition four years ago. maybe he'll get florida, but just a gain of two states. how did that happen? let's go back to where we were coming into the election. this was our map coming into the final weeks. and so we had already leaned north carolina red and governor romney got it. we had already made indiana solid. so essentially from election day and last week of the election governor romney got nothing. president obama held on in nevada. why? for years no primary challenge. remember, they spent money, they identified, they turned out all the latino voters. colorado, suburban voters, latino voters. the president held onto that one. you were impressed by it, they outhustled governor romney. they held onto iowa, a state governor romney was so confident they were going to get. the republican governor put registration at parody. the republicans thought they could get it. they got outhustled again. wisconsin, the paul ryan pick

was not enough. state blue dna. >> scott walker won would have a shot. >> one lesson we learn second-degree that mid-term elections are not presidential elections. obama people said african-american turnout will come back and it did. latino would come back, and it did. this is what you end up with. all of the states i turned blue were states at one point or another the romney campaign felt comfortable and a few felt very comfortable about. president obama outhustled them and ran the board. the luxury of no primary, all that spending on turnout. but look, they were smart. they identified their voters. who would vote for us on election day and where the with weak links? get them to vote early. >> florida right now, do we have the actual vote in florida. >> we do. >> let's look and see where it is. >> it's shaded blue because the actual votes -- >> right now 97% of the vote has been counted. the president's ahead 50% to 49%. he's got about a 50,000 vote lead so far. >> yes. >> which may or may not be off you say based on the counties

that you're looking at? >> they're counting absentee ballots. miami-dade out, broward county up at 100. you can find a couple counties, i would have to touch them all -- >> basically we're talking about the absentee ballots, the provisional ballots they're going through. >> because it doesn't matter, i don't mean to offend the voters of florida, because it doesn't matter in the outcome of the election the president has more than enough electoral votes, there's no reason for us to try to make judgments. let them count provisional ballots. it looks like from the math on the ground and election day and the people we talked to looks like the president will hold that lead. >> if he holds that lead, those electoral votes stay in his column, that's a pretty impressive electoral college win. >> it is. come back to the national numbers. they're very happy. they are very happy in the obama campaign. they got over 50 and won the popular vote. >> almost by three million votes. >> three quarters of the way through the night we weren't sure. >> california saved the president. all these west coast states saved the president in terms of

popular vote. campaigns are always spinning you trying to give you their best impression. go back to the briefings with obama people more than a year ago and compare them to what happened on election day, give them the credit. they said this is what we're going to do. and, wolf, they did it. >> 50% is pretty good for this kind of campaign. john, good work yesterday. great work. thank you. as democrats celebrate and republicans wonder what went wrong, we're going into try to dig deeper into what happened, what's next. a very special panel with some very smart people. that's up next. they also have some unsolicited advice. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still "stubbed" up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. [ sighs ] thanks! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save $1 visit alka-seltzer on facebook.

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as democrats celebrate president obama's re-election in the white house, republicans are left asking themselves, now what? here's a quick snapshot. >> you said governor romney would get 53% plus in the popular vote, 300 electoral votes or more. what happened? >> i was wrong.

republicans make a very serious look at what happened and why did it happen and why were we not more competitive at the presidential level. >> the reality is mitt romney won near historic portion of the white vote in america and suffered a very bad loss. that's because the country looks different. it has changed. >> we're going to win in the future, republicans need to do better among latinos and better among women particularly single women. >> with high unemployment rate, with high poverty, with an economy that is not strong, if you lose this election, what elections are you going to win? >> all right. let's get straight to our cnn political contributor margaret hoover, she's got an excellent panel with her. >> thank you, wolf. we do have an excellent panel and we are deconstructing what happened in the election. i have two republicans, one on my right, one on stage right. ross, was this a democratic realignment? >> quite possibly, yes. i mean, you know, we throw around terms like realignment

and you can argue this and that, but the fact is what obama did in 2008 he, you know, on a smaller scale replicated in 2012 successfully. and i think the most telling statistic from this election is that romney actually won the independent vote. not by the huge margins that he needed, but he won it. so when you win your supporters and win independents and you still lose the election, that tells you that the other party has a majority coalition. and that's, you know, may not be true four years from now, but right now this is, you know, the obama majority and we're all just living in it. >> you're not going to give republicans advice, but you are. what do republicans take away from this? >> we had a thumping. i know a thumping when i get a thumping. we don't have time. and we really shouldn't be doing much naval gazing. one or two days of naval gazing is allowed. >> we got four years. why not let it run a little bit?

>> because the things we have to do are long-term. and we have to start doing right now. we cannot do -- one of the lessons here is we cannot do latino outreach two or three months out from an election. we have to start doing it now. we can't do women outreach two or three weeks before an election. we have to start doing it now. i think we do have to have that serious conversation. i think leaders like jeb bush, like marco rubio, like john mccain, some of the more moderate voices have got to take control, have got to be more vocal, more active and say, look, we really have to seriously work on growing this tent. not making it smaller. >> and what does this mean -- oh, go. i know. you got some advice for republicans. i know it's in your heart of hearts. >> it's solicited. >> well, i mean, first of all, i just think from both sides, this is not a left wing period in american politics. it's not a right wing period. it's a turbulent and volatile period. that's what's going on. we have big problems. we have big challenges. and we're trying to sort them

out. and you can see 2008 you go one way, 2004 you go a totally different way. here's what i think for the republican party. don't be mean to people. just don't be mean. a lot of the ideas republicans have are good ideas, but you don't want to go to a party where you feel like the people are actually going to be actively mean to you or hate you or disrespect you. and if you can figure out a way -- i mean, we love entrepreneurship in the black community. we love innovation. but you don't feel comfortable there. mean people suck. that's my advice. >> mean people -- the republicans aren't mean. >> it feels that way though. >> it might feel that way to you. >> occasionally you're on the talk radio dial, you do hear a little meanness. >> mitt romney is not a mean person. we do have the wrong tone on some issue. and it's not the party. it's some factions of the party. that's why i'm saying we have to stop the insanity and some of the other voices -- >> how do you do that? >> i think this idea that it's

just about outreach seems to me that it's missing the point. it's also about policy. mitt romney was to the right of the rest of the field on immigration. it wasn't just the rhetoric which i think was mean that turned a lot of people off. it wasn't just the immigration issue. cuts to head start and other community programs, community college support important in the latino community, very important to women. so there is substance behind this. i traveled through ten battleground states over the last three months. and what i heard from people is they were taking this very seriously. and they want to know who's going to produce results for them at the kitchen table. the auto recovery was a realignment in the midwest and some of the rocky mountain west not just for those who had auto jobs but a belief someone was recommitted to building things in this country. they saw that in their neighbors. success with women's health equity, the dream act executive order. i think people are smart and they're taking a look at what does this actually mean for me. i think meanness stinks. >> i don't think mitt romney was

to the right to the rest of the field. i think he had to pretend to be to the right. i do not think the things he said on immigration in the primary were from his heart of heart. i met mitt romney many, many times. i think because he wasn't there he felt he had to ov overcompensate. >> what is the structure aspect if in fact that is true to force him to go to that position? >> part of the aspect -- we disagree on policy but i agree the republican party has a policy problem. but it also has -- you were talking about politicians, right? it has a leadership vacuum. it needs to find some national leaders, obviously going into 2016 and beyond. but it also has a vacuum you saw on the clips we were watching when you come in where if you listen to republican talking heads and not just sort of the blow hards but serious well-respected congressm

well-respected come men at a timers and so on, i should say, i was skeptical of the polls too. a week before the election i thought romney was going to win. maybe i participated in it too. >> there was an enormous amount of kool aid drinki inin ining g >> but you were not as starry eyed as some of our conservative colleagues. >> i wasn't going to name names. >> you did in your column, so i can out you. we're going to hold on because even though we're not in unsolicited advice, we're going to have some more in just a minute. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling begins.

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there he is. the president of the united states and his family, sasha and malia. they're still in chicago right now. they're walking over to air force one. they'll be flying back to washington, d.c. they're flying over to andrews air force base. once they're at andrews air force base, by the way, they'll get aboard marine one, chopper over to the white house -- the south lawn of the white house. they'll go inside. i am sure all of the staff there every one will be at the white house with a lot of applause, a lot of smiles, a lot of happiness. this president of the united states has just been re-elected to a second term. i don't know what he's carrying. he's got his daughter. she looks like she's got her books. i'm sure she's getting ready to go back to school tomorrow. missed a little school today. but that's totally, totally understandable. there they are the first family getting on air force one and getting ready to fly back to

washington. only about an hour or so flight. air force one always does it a lot more quickly than commercial flights. good to fly on air force one. as we await for the president's return to washington, let's go back to margaret. margaret. >> thanks a lot, wolf. here we are with our solicited/unsolicited advice. ana navarro, what is your piece of advice today? >> i think it's to all americans including the political leaders. we've had a very divisive election period. it's been very long. it's been very expensive. it's been very stressful. we need to be -- republicans need to be gracious in defeat. and i would say democrats need to be gracious in victory. and it's time we put some of our partisanship down and we start figuring out how to work together. >> is it possible to do when you have an election campaign season where 80% of the ads even more on both sides were negative? >> i think so. i'm an optimist. i'm actually feeling optimistic today because i think we are in a period as republicans of rebuilding. what i saw today the exchange i saw today between john boehner

and president obama gives me some optimism. i think that is an olive branch that john boehner is extending to president obama. it's now his turn to figure out how to work with congress. so i think we are in a different day today than we were yesterday. >> van, you agree? >> i do agree. i think first of all the president has reached out in the past. he put tax cuts on the table earlier when you talk about small businesses. there's some common ground here. but my advice is for washington, d.c. to look out for the new stars in the obama coalition and the democratic coalition. people like ben jell lus put a million black votes into play, made the difference in ohio. the new star rising. tulsy gabbert, this young woman, going to be the first hindu elected to congress. she comes out of hawaii 31 years old. she won by 81% or something like that. the most votes ever gotten by percentage. she's the most popular politician already by the polls

in hawaii. and, again, she's an iraq war combat veteran. democrats are attracting this kind of talent, this means we're going to be able to do pretty well going forward. watch out for tulsy. >> also got the first openly lesbian senator. >> i'm a good supporter of ben and tulsy. >> all right. there really are a lot of people that have emerged from the last two cycles. either entrepreneurship or within politics. i think there was a concern after '08 is that people became disillusi disillusioned. stay engaged. that's my advice. stay engaged. election day is just one day. we are going into a conversation about the fiscal security possibly in the lame duck session that has enormous implications for the future strength of our country and middle class issues where tax revenue will be set, how much

we're investing in our competitiveness. and it's easy to do that vote and then tune out. it didn't work well for either last time. it's important to stay engaged. i think the deal will be stronger if the american people are engaged than if it's just happening. >> but they get to take a little bit of time off, right? they've been watching those 80% negative ads. you can have thanksgiving. maybe a little football. >> deep breath. >> right. my advice is at the beginning of the segment for republicans. we've been talking a lot about the new democratic kol coalition and the democratic strength with hispanics and women and so on, i think the temptation for the republicans is going to be the microtargeting. we're going to do this and it will get hispanics and do this and get women and so on. you have to do some of that, but the republican party has a bigger problem. it doesn't have a big particularly economic policy message that's pitched to the middle class. and if you come up with that message, guess what? you win more blue collar whites in ohio, more middle class

hispanics in nevada -- >> sam's club republicans. >> more sam's club republicans if you will. >> okay. >> so think a little bigger. >> all right. i'm almost to the point where i'll take microtargeting of hispanics. >> all right. that's it. that's all we go. back to wolf. thank you for joining us for unsolicited advice. back to you, wolf. >> thanks very much, margaret. up next, congressional leaders are also back in town. we're taking a closer look at the upcoming fight over cuts to vital programs, higher taxes for everyone. what's going on? standby.

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now that the election is over, congress is coming back to washington to deal with what's being called the fiscal cliff.

here's a brief el strags of what we're talking about. the way things stand now an across the board spending cut is scheduled to hit every federal agency after december 31st. if congress does nothing before then, the cuts take effect no matter how badly the spending is needed. no matter how much it hurts, no matter who loses his or her job. at the same time everyone in the country gets hit with an across the board tax increase after the first of the year. you'll be paying more to the federal government no matter how much it hurts unless congress figures out how to stop it before december 31st. let's bring in our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. dana, this is big-time. this is a crucial issue that they have to resolve over the next, what, november and december. >> exactly. and the leader in the house and the leader in the senate wasted no time to come out and try to lay down markers. if you listen to the tone of both harry reid and house speaker john boehner each trying

to sound as conciliatory and open to compromise as they can. watch what i'm talking about. >> this was really the message american people sent from all over. and that is they're tired of these partisan gridlocks. >> if there's a mandate in yesterday's results, it's a mandate for us to find a way to work together on the solutions to the challenges that we all face as a nation. >> but in virtually the same breath, each man promised to try to work together, each laid down markers on the key difference between the two parties on this fiscal cliff, taxes. speaker boehner tried to take a constructive attack. he said republicans are open to revenue or tax increases as part of tax reform coupled with entitlement reform, which reminded people he had agree today in failed talks with the president last year. but when it comes to the bush-era tax cuts wolf was just talking about especially those for the wealthy expirining at t end of the year, both sides dug in. >> we won't solve the problem of

our fiscal imbalance overnight. and certainly won't do it in a lame duck session of congress. and it won't be solved simply by raising taxes or taking a plunge off the fiscal cliff. >> the vast majority of the american people, rich, poor, everybody agrees that the richest of the rich have to help a little bit. >> translation, democrats are demanding what they're calling decoupling letting the tax cut for the wealthiest expire at year's end and use that for deficit reduction. they say they want to do that no matter what. >> somebody's going to have to blink on this. i understand the speaker was on a private conference call with house republicans. you've got some inside information. >> that's right. our house producer and i talked to a source who was on that call again with all house republicans. and we're told boehner rallied his republican troops after this election saying they're the last line of defense from an american that barack obama would design. he reminded them that the president won by less than two million votes. and he also appeared to prepare

his rank and file. and this is the but, to give a little bit with the president. and he talked about raising revenue as part of tax reform. we're also told, wolf, that he warned them that he doesn't want to get boxed in, but he also doesn't want to get boxed out by the white house. >> if it were just boehner and the president, i think there would be a deal. he's got the tea party caucus if you will and others in the house of representatives that he's got to worry about. we'll see what happens on that front. there's going to be a lot of negotiations, a lot of knuckles -- >> a lot of standing in hallways. >> yeah. we'll see what happens. but the stakes as you point out are enormous. standing by right now live coverage of the president's return to the white house. you'll see it here in "the situation room." and if you want to know why mitt romney lost in ohio, it goes back to a decision made some four years ago. we'll explain. ♪

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there are a lot of reasons probably mitt romney may have lost last night. one may go all the way back to 2008 when romney decided to write an op-ed that the "new york times" entitled "let detroit go bankrupt." those words haunted him to the bitter end. we're live from parma, ohio, with more on the auto bailout's impact on this election. i think it was huge not only in michigan but in ohio. >> reporter: as you point out, that plant is just outside the city of cleveland. this is the chevy cruze. part of this roof was built inside that plant. the engine block of this car was poured in defiance, ohio, and assembled in lords town, ohio.

it would be no stretch to say that this car helped to drive president obama back to the white house. at least when it comes to ohio. it's all about the numbers. in ohio one in eight jobs benefit from the auto industry. since the auto bailout, ohio's unemployment rate has been below the national average. right now it's 7% compared to the nation 7.9%. since the bailout gm and chrysler have both unveiled major improvement or expansion plans creating at least 1,000 more jobs. on chevy boulevard in parma, ohio, that matters. >> every gm car has a part that comes through our plant. >> reporter: at uaw local 1005 across the street from the gm stamping plant, local president says the president saved their jobs, so his members returned the favor. >> he did it for all of us. we did it for him. when you look at the two candidates though, i mean, barack obama was the guy for the country. >> reporter: the bailout and jobs saved was a constant theme

of the obama campaign, something the president repeated every time he was in the state. >> governor romney said we should just let detroit go bankrupt. i refuse to turn my back on communities like this one. >> reporter: the message came through loud and clear on ohio's assembly lines. at freeway lanes next to the plant in cleveland, current and retired auto workers say there was never any doubt who they would vote for. ivan major holds up a t-shirt to make his point. the message here is pretty clear, he saved our jobs. let's save his job in november. >> and i do believe the auto workers did save his job because he did get the state of ohio. >> reporter: never forgot or forgave romney for once saying the industry should be written off. >> at first he said let them go bankrupt. that's what -- >> reporter: so just how important was the bailout to the election outcome? ohio political science expert tom sutton says simply. >> i think this made all the difference between a win by

president obama versus what could have been a win by governor romney. >> reporter: in the car business and the election business, it's all about the numbers. for president obama they added up to victory. polls that were done before the election show that 60% of ohians were in favor and that was backed up by the poll yesterday called the vote, wolf. >> an even more important poll, martin. thank you. you're in "the situation room." happening now, president obama wins big without even needing the biggest battleground state after voters waited for hours well into the night, ballots are still being counted in florida. right now we're learning what's behind the election fumble. also, republicans face a new reality, the changing face of america. older white males went for mitt romney. the president captured just about every other group. and just over a week after sandy devastated the northeast, a

powerful new storm brings more misery to the hardest hit areas. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." president obama's due back in washington in the next hour. a triumphant return to the white house that will be his home for another four years. a bitter election campaign ended with the president taking virtually all the key swing states beating mitt romney just about every place where it mattered most. but congress will remain divided meaning democrats and republicans must immediately start finding some ways to deal with the prospect of an urgent new financial crisis. in his victory speech, the president said americans voted for action. and he's already called

congressional leaders to discuss his agenda. the house speaker, john boehner, says both sides now must work together. and he hints at compromise on tax reform. in the end, president obama won just about all of the critical battleground states without putting florida in his win column, at least not yet. we still don't know who won in florida because the votes there are still being counted. let's find out where things stand right now and why things stand where they do. cnn's john zarrella is joins us from miami. little complicated situation in florida, john. update our viewers. >> reporter: sure, wolf. you know, what's scary is had the electoral college played out just a little bit differently last night, we might be sitting here today still not knowing who won the presidency. because we'd still be waiting for florida. so there it was. cnn anchors in front of the map of the nation.

>> it looks like it's still very close. >> reporter: behind them all blue states and red states except down there, see it? the one yellow state in the bottom right. is that florida again? it didn't matter in the final outcome, but here was florida a dozen years after the infamous butterfly ballot once again too close to call, once again long lines. even the president during his victory speech through a little zinger. >> i want to thank every american who participated in this election. whether you voted for the very first time or waited in line for a very long time -- by the way, we have to fix that -- >> reporter: in miami-dade county, the state's largest, people were still voting as he took the stage. some precincts didn't wrap up

until 1:30 in the morning, six and a half hours after the polls closed. >> it's not that there were any problems or glitches, which is the word that's commonly used. it is not about that. it's about the volume of paper that we're processing. >> reporter: that is true. statewide there weren't any major technical hiccups. the biggest problem was the ballot, the longest in state history. >> it was a combination of a lot of things. and overly long ballot which took about 30 minutes to vote, new precincts locations because of redistricting and having to choose new precinct locations. >> reporter: some voters aren't buying it. >> everybody's trying to do the best they cann not to have the best election but to screw the opposition. >> reporter: it started with early voting reduced by the state legislature from 14 to eight days. republican governor rick scott refuse today appeal to extend it, something his republican predecessors jeb bush and

charlie christ did. was it political? >> i want everybody to get involved in campaigns. i want everybody to go out and vote. 4.4 million people have gotten to vote in our state before election day. >> reporter: at the end of the day more than 8 million floridians did vote. we can't say exactly how many because, well, they're still counting. and you know it may be a few days yet before all the provisional ballots and absentee ballots are counted in the state. could be the end of the week before we really have an answer on who won florida. you know, wolf, there were projections that 9 million floridians would vote. it didn't get near that. just over 8 million. it makes you wonder how many people either walked away frtd long lines or just didn't bother to show up knowing how long they'd have to wait. >> with 97% of the vote officially counted, john, the president is still ahead by about 50,000 votes right now? >> reporter: correct. that's right.

about 50,000. >> out of 8 million plus votes that were cast. all right, john, thanks very much. let's get a little closer look at this voting situation in florida. our chief national correspondent john king is with us once again. you know, before we get to -- it is pretty shocking that in the united states of america people have to wait three, four, five hours just to vote. i mean, that is a shocking situation. >> let's hope -- the president said it as an aside but sounds like he meant it. this shouldn't be an issue whether you're democrat, republican, independent, in washington as a governor, this is the most sacred right we have and they need to figure out do we need more polling places, locations. >> especially on a tuesday. people work on tuesdays, most people who have jobs. takes a lot of time. >> more than a third of americans voted yesterday voted early. some states are generous in how they do that. colorado among them. ohio had some issues. other states like a big state of pennsylvania doesn't allow early voting.

more early voting will make shorter lines on election day. >> yeah. pretty outrageous. tell us what's going on in florida. >> it's interesting. you mentioned that's why it was so hard last night and one of the reasons governor romney took so long to concede. they had some questions about what's going to happen down here. it is possible as john zarrella knows as they count the rest of the absentees and provisional ballots, it's possible that governor will overtake the president but florida -- this is one of the states, wolf, we expected even some of the obama campaign people say if we lose one or two, florida would be among them. governor romney won the state of florida by more than 20 points among white voters. among white voters. but he got crushed among latinos and african-americans. so the diversity of the president's coalition is what made its stay in the case of florida. if you go back and look at the key places, there was a lot of talk would the president lose votes in places like bring up broward county because governor romney made a concerted effort to go after the jewish vote.

well, look, there's president obama at 67% in 2012 let's go back to 2008 exactly the same, 67%. 67%. move down to miami-dade, 62% against mitt romney. let's come back 58%. so a bit of a drop there. more probably republican turnout though than anything else. move this one up here palm beach county against john mccain 61% in 2012 it was 58%. add up all three in the democratic counties right there, but then throughout the rest of the state, wolf, in florida like anywhere else, the obama people worked for months. and they said who do we need to get to turnout in orange county? identify them in the primaries while governor romney was fighting michele bachmann and rick perry. look at that. 59% to 40% in a big populous orange county in the middle of the state. matching vote total from four years ago. they looked at what they did four years ago, they put together a plan to do it again and a lot of people were critical of them, wolf. a lot of people said they couldn't do it.

they executed on election day not only in florida but in virginia, come back to the 2012 map so you don't get confused about the state they executed in virginia, ohio and if you look across the midwest romney thought maybe get them in pennsylvania, didn't happen. african-american turnout in philadelphia. thought michigan, didn't happen. wisconsin because of paul ryan didn't happen. iowa didn't happen. colorado didn't happen. florida one of the examples of the obama campaign making a list, checking it twice, spending months and millions. >> they had a good game plan and implemented it successfully. john, thanks very much. he called some of his democratic counterparts communist and said president obama was trying to turn americans into slaves. now congressman alex west will soon be ex-congressman alex west. is there a message for the tea party? plus, does president obama owe his re-election in part to bill

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nchtsz last night's historic win a huge moment obviously not only for the president of the united states but also for those closest to him. many of whom have been with him since his journey to the white house first began. one of those people the president's former chief of staff chicago mayor rahm emanuel. he and his wife were backstage with president obama before he gave his victory speech. thanks very much, mr. mayor, for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >> let me read to you what the president told "time" magazine a couple months ago looking ahead at the time when he was asked about a second term if he were re-elected. he was asked what he would do differently in a second term. he said there would be some popping of the blister after this election where republicans refuse to cooperate on things that i know are good for the american people, i will continue

to look for ways to do it administratively and work around congress." what do you think of that strategy? >> take a look at any executive order. he signed them. president clinton has signed them. every president has used them. when you think something's imperative for the country to move forward, if congress refuses to act, you use the authority in the executive branch. he did it on immigration and deportation as well as on the dream act. so congress refused to take up an immigration bill that dealt with an important issue. within what areas he could effect, he took executive action. that's the same place that president clinton has dealt with things as he dealt with kids access to tobacco products advertising -- i think it's appropriate -- with both president obama and president clinton, i think it's appropriate when congress refuses to act and the president of the united states deems issue imperative for the nation's

security or well-being, it's appropriate. also it's a message to the american people i will not allow congress' inability to move and take action to stop us as a country from making progress. >> but sometimes you can't just take an executive order administratively. you need congressional legislation. as you'll need in the next two months to avoid what's called that fiscal cliff. so here's the question, how do you negotiate a compromise, a deal, with the house speaker john boehner? >> well, two points i would stress. we've had an election. i think speaker boehner as well as the senate majority harry reid and the respective minority leaders in respective chambers, they all know the american people have spoken. back in '96 we also had a very aggressive campaign between president clinton and bob dole. the election was over, nine months over, a year later, we had a balanced budget agreement that created the children's

health insurance program, doubled the size of our national parks and created middle class tax credits for sending kids to college. this time given the voters that have spoken, the president won re-election, won i think with a middle class progressive agenda with pro-growth economic strategy based on the middle class, it's incumbent then the parties work together to avoid not just the fiscal issue but lay a path for economic growth. >> well, i know -- excuse me for interrupting. work closely with the speaker newt gingrich. do you think john boehner -- and you know john boehner, the speaker of the house, do you think he can do with this president what gingrich and clinton did back in the '90s after the president was re-elected? >> well, i do. and i think it's essential that he also understand his own caucus. and i think when the election's done, remember, they were trying to defeat the president. mitch mcconnell said my number one goal is to defeat the president. that has failed.

now there's political peril. also, the senate democrats picked up seats. across the country. so not in one region. so they're clear about that. and the president's always going to be open to different ideas, but not change the goals. and the goal is not just an economic strategy based on austerity but one that's pro-growth, pro-middle class that allows job creation while you're bringing fiscal discipline to washington. it's not one or the other. it's both. obviously john boehner is wanting to work with the president. he's already expressed some opening to do that. it's going to take a while to get there, but if there's a willingness, i think the president is going to make sure that we achieve a pro-growth strategy while bringing fiscal discipline. and does john boehner have the capacity? i think it's incumbent upon his caucus so to say we're spending a speaker in to -- we all have self-interest as the president said regardless of who you're voting for to resolve the issues

facing the country. >> do you think the president owes a lot to your former boss -- you worked for both of these presidents, former president bill clinton, how much does he owe president clinton for helping him gez re-elected? >> first of all, take the president at his words. one, he owes his re-election to the american people. and he said it last night. so there's nothing more i can add to what he said. number two, the first person he called was bill clinton, as you know. i think it's an indication given he called him, given he thanked him, that he himself appreciates what the president has done not only on the campaign trail but going back to the convention. but also they are kindred spirits with the same middle class economic agenda. that is what i meanwhile they governed as different times, different people, they are kindred spirits in the same kind of progressive agenda built on an economic strategy that strengthens the middle class. i say this repeatedly because i'm worried washington's going

to get into one of its myopic discussions among itself that it's only about austerity and lose sight about i think an agenda that i think helps build our infrastructure, invest in the education and training of our work force, things the president advocated that gives people a vested interest in the outcome. it is not only austerity, fiscal discipline, yes. but it's a pro-growth strategy realizing the fundamentals that both president clinton and president obama have been advocating that invest in the economic opportunity. if that part of the conversation's left off, you're not going to get the growth you need in the economy. and they are kindred spirits. and he himself personally thanked president clinton. i think that action speaks to how he appreciates what he did on the trail as well as at the convention. >> he certainly did thank him. and i'm sure he's grateful to the former president's help. take us a little bit behind the scenes, mr. mayor. you and your wife, amy, you were there backstage just before the president, the first lady, their daughters, they went out there. and he delivered his victory

speech. what was it like during those moments? >> he was very concerned how cnn was going to cover it. wolf, i think this is an exciting moment. as you know what happens on an election night in the sense that you think about the journey from not only election night 2008 in grand park but more importantly he set out a year earlier from that engaging america in a conversation. and you get elected. and from the days of when you see an unemployment report's 800,000 job losses to one where you have 170,000 jobs created from that decision when he made the auto decision -- i remember in the roosevelt room, nobody of his advisors gave him a better one in five shot it was going to work and nobody suggested saving chrysler and gm. he made a decision unpopular to ride it said you're throwing good money after bad, it turned out to be right for the country's work force, right for the auto industry, obviously helped in both states like ohio,

illinois, not that he needed it here in wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania. to see that ratification in job growth as well as politics that come from that. when you get a second term, you get elected by a bigger coalition in the sense of what you've put together for the middle class. it's an affirm mags of the strategy you have for america. there's personal gratification, political gratification and also the course you're trying to build for the country now ratified by the public. >> i'm sure he's grateful to you for all the help you gave him in the final several weeks of this campaign. >> as i told him last night, it's a labor of love. i think he's a great president. he's a dear friend. and i think he's been a courageous leader for this country in some very challenging times. >> rahm emanuel's the mayor of chicago. thanks very much for joining us, mr. mayor. >> thank you, wolf. a powerful nor'easter taking aim right now at a region devastated by the superstorm sandy. we're going to have a live report from new york's staten island where thousands of people are still in the dark and

they're bracing for horrible weather. look at this. stay with us. you're in "the situation room."

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a terrible day on wall street as investors apparently reacting to president obama's victory among other issues including fears of the fiscal cliff, what's going on in europe. lisa sylvester's monitoring that some of the other stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on? >> wolf, not a good day for the market. dow dropping 313 points, its worse day in a year. the nasdaq and s&p also sank more than 2%. investors are worried about how the president plans to avoid the fiscal cliff after winning

re-election also dragging down the markets a weak outlook for europe's economy. wall street has been overwhelmingly behind mitt romney. and californians voting to keep the death penalty and raise taxes on the wealthy. 53% of california voters rejected a referendum that would have abolished the death penalty. meanwhile voters approved major tax hikes on the wealthy along with a sales tax increase expected to bring in $6 billion a year over the next five years to the cash-strapped state. and puerto rico backing state hood. in a separate question, 61% chose state hood as an alternative. officials say an economic downturn and a shrinking population are contributing factors. and some say the vote on this nonbinding referendum was flawed due to many blank ballots on the statehood question, wolf. >> they got issues with their elections in puerto rico as well. >> all around apparently it seems. >> this is the 21st century. we've got to fix these things.

>> you'd think after 2000 when everybody said we learned our lessons with the dangling and hanging chads in florida. >> should not be that complicated. >> as you well know, by the way, you did an outstanding job last night. i'm speaking for everyone. >> just irritates me this is still going on whether in puerto rico, here in florida, whatever. >> a lot of people feel the same way, wolf. congressional republicans tied to the tea party lost big last night. so are americans already tired of the movement that took washington by storm just two years ago? standby. we'll have an update. what if there was a new way to deal with money that focused less on fees and more... on what matters? maybe your bank account is taking too much time and maybe it's costing too much money. introducing bluebird by american express and walmart. your alternative to checking and debit. it's loaded with features, not fees. because we think your money should stay where it belongs. with you. the value you expect. the service you deserve. it feels good to bluebird. get it at your local walmart.

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in indiana, richard mourdock lost his election to be re-elected. he'd beaten richard luger for that. allen west, very popular with the tea party movement in florida, we haven't projected a final result yet but with 100% of the vote in he is 2,456 votes shy of patrick murphy, the democr democrat. what should we say about the tea party movement and what's going on right now based on what we saw yesterday? >> based on what we saw i think the message is pretty clear, wolf. in 2010, just a couple years ago, we elected a bunch of tea party guys to congress. why? because the car had no brake pedal. democrats controlled everything. house, senate and white house. americans put a brake pedal on the car. they just trusted republicans to say no. this election wasn't about putting a brake pedal on, we've got one. this election is about hands on the steering wheel. who's going to take us into the future? and we're still the guy who is say no. that's all we're good for. we're not trusted yet to lead.

we didn't present a vision, how we'd do it, a rationale for governing. the tea party doesn't offer that. we're still the no guys. until that's corrected, republicans won't be trusted to lead. >> americans do like checks and balances. they like a little restraint on the executive branch of government from time to time. that's why there's a republican majority in the house, presumably. and a democratic president. >> it's certainly why there was the sha lacking as the president called it in the 2010 midterms. >> when they gained all those seats? >> they did. good for them. they did it by organizing. but the most important thing they did is redraw the map. frankly, democrats would have taken over the house had the maps been drawn by democrats or even i think in a nonpartisan way. this is the way our system works. i'm not complaining. >> it was totally legal. >> it was perfectly legal. in the finest tradition of american politics. i'm not trying to be sour grapes here. but they've now become an

enormous negative for republicans. alex eludes to that. in our exit poll yesterday, only 2 1k9 of americans have a favorable opinion of the tea party. that i think is below the favorability of the replacement refs a few weeks ago in the nfl. 21 is terrible. they're about the only people they're better than. >> what do republicans need to do now after the most important lesson or lessons they need to learn from yesterday. >> bill clinton, new democrats. democrat party wasn't trusted to lead. they weren't trusted with the nation's pocketbook. they learned how to take what they believe and move it across the center. republicans need to do the same. the next generation of republicans, marco rubios, bobby jindals, jeb bushes, new republicans are going to say we have a better way to govern take money out of washington's pocket, put it in your pocket, grow this economy naturally bottom up, we need to evolved the same way.

we're waiting for the post-reagan republicans. don't love freedom any less but want to move this party forward into the communication age. >> you're familiar with the tri angulation. >> this is very different from triangulation. that was a discredited theory for a guy that used to work for president clinton. what parking light clinton did was the new movement. >> through the d.o.c. >> absolutely. he did it by changing our position on several issues. welfare reform, crime, death penalty, free trade. the republicans -- i've looked at the polling, what they need too move on are all things that are already popular. embrace returning high income americans to the clinton tax rates. that's supported by three-fourths of americans. >> that means going from right now 35% for people making more than $250,000 a year to 39.6%. >> 70% support that. >> we may, but it may not be

good for economy. they're the only people paying a lot of the federal taxes, a big burden of it. now, here's the question. if we want to raise revenue -- that's why we want to raise taxes, right? but we know raising tax rates and revenue are not always the same thing. if it doesn't raise more money, could we agree to say let it expire? >> you could say raise revenue by eliminating the loopholes, exemptions, tax credits, stuff like that. >> sure. we have to do both, frankly, because we do need more revenue should come from upper income americans. the rest of the agenda shouldn't be hard. most want to go to the rates high income paid under clinton. 65% in the exit poll want some sort of path to legal status for undocumented residents and most spornt gaye marriage. three easy things, they're popular, it's where the country is, the mainstream of america. >> what we're going to see is republicans say freedom nationally values locally. let's not use big government to cheat and enforce our values. the government doesn't become a

good thing just because we're running it. but the other thing americans agree on, smaller government in washington. take more money out of washington's pocket and put it in american's pockets and grow the economy that way bottom up. i'm sure that's a place president obama will come our way. >> i suspect if it were up to the two of you, we would have a deal. >> just like this. we could run this country, wolf. >> probably 20 minutes from now. thanks very much. it's the law of the land. obama care, guess what? it is now here to stay now that president obama has won a second term. we're going to explain why it is not going away. what does that mean for you? what changes are still in store for health care reform? our own dr. sanjay gupta is standing by live to explain. [ male announcer ] a european-inspired suspension, but not from germany. ♪ a powerful, fuel-efficient engine, but it's not from japan. ♪ it's a car like no other... inspired by a place like no other.

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a celebratory photo of president obama hugging the first lady with a caption four more years became a record shattering viral sensation online. the picture brought in a whopping more than 3.5 million likes making it the most liked photo ever on twitter. it was retweeted, get this, more than 700,000 times making it the number one tweet of all times. there's the picture. nice picture. in the wake of a resounding defeat in the presidential election, the republican party now faces a new reality, the changing face of america. lisa sylvester's been looking into this for us. she's joining us now. lisa, what are you seeing? >> you know, wolf, even before the final results were in in many of the states, people were asking the question what went right for president obama and what went wrong for mitt romney? in part it comes down to

demographics. the day after the election and there's a political hangover among conservatives. at the national press club the tea party's national coordinator blamed romney himself. >> what we got was a weak, moderate candidate hand picked by the beltway elites and country club establishment wing of the republican party. >> plenty of soul searching now, but one reality stands out, the face of america is changing. what clinched it for president obama? the minority vote, the youth vote and in part the women's vote. >> the reality is younger voters, african-american voters, identify with the president. they like his positions. they like the democratic party's positions. >> romney had 59% of the white vote. obama dominated everywhere else. 93% of the african-american vote, 71% of the latino vote and 73% of the asian vote. >> when you look at a state like

florida, we know that we signed up 137,000 new people to vote. and we also know that the president only won by about 50,000 votes. and those folks who we signed up were black and they were brown primarily. >> census figures show the hispanic population grew by 43% between 2000 and 2010. caucasians grew by only 5.7% during the same period. those numbers can't be ignored. republicans acknowledging that they need to reach out to latino and african-americans including people like the former congressman from alabama artur davis. >> i had dinner with artur davis not along ago to outline what he thought and his points were very significant. things that republicans needs to listen to in terms of what blacks and hispanics believe or what they want in candidates and so on. i think if republicans don't start listening to that, it's going to be a long time before

they win. >> they're pitting their hopes on the younger up and coming stars of the gop, senator marco rubio of florida, governor bobby jindal of louisiana and newly-elected senator ted cruz of texas. and one issue expected to gain traction is immigration reform. some conservatives even at the national press club they are now saying maybe it's time that we embrace comprehensive immigration reform to try to find a solution to the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the united states. that's something certainly to keep an eye on, wolf. >> a lot of reassessment soul thinking going to be going on among republicans right now. thanks very much, lisa. good report. so if you think congress is dysfunctional now, just wait until january. could be even more partisan than ever. we have details on the new balance of power. why it may be difficult to get passed.

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president obama's controversial health care legislation also winning big with his re-election. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is joining us now with this part of the story. sanjay, much of the president's new health care law hasn't actually gone into effect yet. but now that he's been re-elected rksz there's no doubt it will be the law of the land for years to come. what are you seeing? what should we expect in the not-too-distant future? >> a lot of this will start taking place in january of 2014. and really think about it mainly as a lot of patient protection. specifically we've talked about some of this in the past, wolf, but for example people not being charged higher premiums for being sick. we talk about the idea that people cannot be discriminated against based on pre-existing conditions. i'll tell you, wolf, we

typically think of the scenario being someone who can obtain health care insurance because they're sick, but there are a lot of people still buying it just at a very high cost. they're going to get a break on their health care insurance. and finally no annual dollar limits on health benefits. they can't be capped. the president referred to this in his speech last night as you may remember, wolf, talking about an 8-year-old girl with cancer who would no longer be capped on how much money could be spent on her health care. and finally the health exchanges, wolf, that will be created -- tried to be created at the state level as well for people trying to buy insurance on their own, wolf. >> talk a little bit about the health insurance exchanges, sanjay. will all states have them? how exactly will these exchanges work? >> well, you think of it sort of as a one-stop shop for people who want to try and buy health care, the health care plans sort of compete against each other, so that raises competition a bit. but it's primarily for people buying insurance on their own or work for small businesses, for example, where the insurance isn't provided.

your second question i think is a very important one. and that is that so far we just tracked this about ten states have actually signed up to sort of create these exchanges. they have up until november 16th to decide for sure whether they're going to create an exchange in their state. i think a lot of people were waiting to see what happened last night, wolf, in terms of their own decisions. if they don't do it, then the federal government will need to step in and possibly create the exchange within the state. they don't want to do that. it's a lot of technical additional work, but that's sort of the plan as far as i can tell moving forward, wolf. >> and starting in 2014, sanjay, every american will be legally required to purchase health insurance. people ignore what's called the mandate, will the health insurance exchange programs still work? >> i think it will be very hard. for the same reason that any of these insurance plans that we're talking about would have a hard time, would the exchanges. you need a combination of both people who are healthy and obviously taking care of people

who are sick for it to work because more people paying into the system through the mandate helps offset the cost of people who are sick. and that's a real concern, wolf. might there be cherry picking, for example. some insurers are preferentially covering people who are only c people who are healthy. the law, the way it's written, should prevent that from occurring. >> and there should be no doubt that obama care is now going to be fully implemented over the next four years. the president is making that clear. even if the house were to reject it like in the past, even if they would, the president would veto any such legislation. so it is here, obama care is not going away at all, americans will have to get used to it whether they like it, a lot of them do, or they don't, a lot of them don't. democrats are celebrating

president obama's victory in the senate and house, but the president still can't push his agenda without republican help. and tom is joining us now from cnn's virtual senate. what are you seeing, tom? >> a lot of the president's supporters are hoping to rekindle a spirit of bipartisanship, not only here, but certainly in the u.s. senate they're hoping to do that. look at what our exit polls showed. 41% of the people called themselves moderate, and 29% say they're independent. so about a third of the public thinks of themselves as independent. yes they will vote democratic or republican, but they're tipping their hat to the idea that you need cooperation. but, this chamber, the u.s. senate has been moving steadily

away from that. welcome at this analysis of what senate looked like back in the early 1980s. do you see all of those tan seats? those are moderate senators, those willing to cross the aisle to strike a deal with the other side to make votes for legislation they didn't sponsor. move forward to the 1990s and watch the seats diminish. it's about a third of congress, and you move to the early 2000s, and now you're down to a handful of reliably moderate senators. the simple truth is many of the people willing to strike those kinds of deals have been pushed out as the parties found more strength in their bases. they realize they can get more power turning to people in solid red or solid blue states and

playing to what they want even as the public says they want more cooperation. >> what are some of the most pressing issues that could be impacted? >> many things. let's talk about economic alone, and some of the issues on which the democrats and republicans are most sharply divided. the fiscal cliff. there's no question that democrats and republicans know they have to deal with it. know they could trigger another recession if it's handled badly, and they have very different ideas about how to do it, tax reform, and what about the idea of the deficit back here? that's another huge threat looming out there that both parties say is serious and must be dealt with overtime. the only way the president can get this done, wolf, without that 60 vote filibuster here,

they're saying the dealmakers have been steadily pushed out. there are fewer people in these chambers who are naturally voting for the parties and that will make it much, much up toer for the president to broker these deals. >> tom in our virtual senate, thank you for that. one of the hard etc. hit areas in sandy's path getting slammed again.me or bed, kiddo. lights out. ♪ (sirens)

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now a nor'easter is packing a punch of rain and snow. ron rob marciano is joining us now. >> it's snowing now for two or three hours and it's gusty as well. over 76 miles per hour, several inches of snow piling up. we're in staten island. just a few hundred yards this way is the ocean. a week ago, the flooding up was and over my shoulders. the snow is a couple inches on the ground. that's how hard it's coming down. it's piling up on some of the debris that's been pulled out of these houses, and saw substantial flood damage from hurricane sandy just a week ago. this home is lit up because we let them plug into our satellite

truck generator. they have serious cold and wind and it's just a week after sandy ripped through this area. >> how are the folks out there preparing for this? >> they prepared as well as they could. they have shelters open, but a lot of people are sadly staying where they are because they had looting right after the storm. they don't want their stuff to get stolen. like i said, they plugged into our satellite truck. they ripped everything up to dry the place out. earlier we spoke with nick, and here is how he explained his story to our viewers. >> everything that i own is here and i'm trying to save it. my wife, my kids, my best friend mike. and i'm just going to lose everything. i mean, my body is shutting

down. there's no words to explain or express the stress, the pain, the suffering. >> physically and emotionally worn out, wolf. there they are, nick, house the carbon monoxide reader, working all right? >> they have a propane heater going which is dangerous, but they're trying to keep it above freezing so they can sleep tonight. >> thank you, rob. president obama is returning back to the white house for the hard part of returning, the fiscal cliff around the corner, and republicans are picking up the pieces after mitt romney's loss, and more worried than ever

about their political base. and the huge lines and problems at polling places across america, can the president deliver on this promise? >> by the way, we have though fix that. >> i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." right now, president obama and his family are heading back to the white house. they'll be calling that home for another four years. the american people handing him a clear victory and presenting him with enormous challenges in the immediate weeks and months ahead. the president wound up winning every critical battleground state, except for florida which is still too close to call.

he still might win, but without florida he has 303 electoral votes. he has far more than mitt romney who has 206. the president also won the popular vote with 50% of the vote compared to 48% for mitt romney. the obama camp had plenty to celebrate last night, but today, the president has a big second term to-do list. let's go to brianna keilar. >> he started to tackle his to-do list before leaving chicago. he called congressional leaders to touch base before beginning negotiations over the fiscal cliff. he stopped by his campaign headquarters. it was an emotional thank you received by a lot of staff and volunteers there. some worked toward president obama's cause for as much as 18 months. he has a lot of his plate as he

heads back here to washington as we wait for him to touch down at andrews air force base. december 31st is when the tax cuts expire, and january 31st spending cuts kick in, and around inauguration, his budget proposal will go to congress. also in february, the treasury department estimates that the debt ceiling will need to be increased. it was negotiations over the debt ceiling last year that nearly brought the country to the brink of default. come march, that is when government funding is expected to expire. that could potentially lead to a government shut down so you can see there's a whole lot on president obama's plate as he heads back here to washington, and quite frankly, wolf, to reality. >> indeed. i take it there has been a change to the arrival back at the white house, what's going on?

>> yes, it seems like a dramatic arrival, he was initially expected to come by marine one to the south lawn of the white house and walk the 100 or 150 yards into the white house, that's normally an open press situation for people to gather. room for a lot of people to gather and greet him. that's not going to happen. so there were a lot of staff members that will come out and greet him with clapping as he walks in because he is now motorcading which means he pulls much much closer, it's not as much of a grand arrival, and it's been limited so a few members of the press including myself will not be there to see him as he comes in, wolf. >> so we'll get a still photoat least out of that. thank you for that. as for republicans, they're doing a lot of rethinking right now after mitt romney's defeat, and kate baldwin is picking up this part of the story.

>> when he told reporters, he thought he would win. a former advisor says that members of the campaign went into election day thinking they would defeat the president. the advisor says romney wound up losing because of the democrats strong turn out. we're told he is likely to spend the next several days getting rest and spending time with his family. much deserved rest after are a long campaign. >> yes, we heard quite a few republicans insist that romney would win up until he lost. some of them trashed state and national polls that showed president obama had the advantage, listen to this. >> they're overpolling democrats, these polls are part and parcel of the campaign for barack obama to help him stay in this game as long as possible. >> we're going to wind by a landslide. to base it on reading the polls, the exact same polls that show

that president obama will win. >> that poll is so far out of whack, i'm not worried about it one bit. >> the nbc wall street journal poll in ohio had a nine point advantage for democrats in the poll, that's bigger than '08, and i have yet to find anybody who thinks '12 will be a bigger democrat year than '08. >> pollsters got it right. let's talk about this with our senior political analyst, ron brownstein. all of the main stream polls were pretty much perfect in their targets all along. nate silver got it all right, what happened to these republican pollsters, republican political operatives if you will who insisted that these polls showing the president doing well were all biassed and wrong? >> it was an extreme example of

a tendency that exists on the left and right but especially on the right in the modern conservative movement. there is a tendency to create this alternate reality. anything that contravenes the idea of an inherent conservative majority in the country is fundamentally and immediately rejected. for barack obama, the formula for victory was 80-40. so long as minorities were at least 26% of the vote like last time. if the polls were wrong about anything, it was underprojecting the minority share of the vote. very few pollsters had that and the elector rate tilted even further toward democrats in many places. so this was an example, you know, they famously said,

everybody is entitled to their own opinions, not their own facts, too many analyst believe they are entitled to their own facts, and this was, i think, a wake up call about the under -- you know, how many people were polled in october? they are either zitmatical msys wrong. >> yes, they were predicted a landslide which was counter to all of the other polls out there. i'm sure political scientists will be doing a lot with that. you looked closely at the polls. you talk about the rust belt and the sun belt, what do you see here? >> here is what's striking, the overall picture is that barack obama wins reelection comfortably despite losing

voters. in part, that is true because barack obama was able to navigate not one tight rope, but two. he built very different coalitions in the sun belt and the rust belt. he faced enormous difficulties with the working class white voters, but he overcame it and benefitted from that big minority turn out. we saw a big increase in the minority share of the voting. they were up five points in a single election cycle which is remarkable. in the rust belt, he put together another coalition. you have to mobilize blue collar voters. he was able to get just enough working class whites. the numbers for noncollege white women much better in the rust belt than the sun belt. he put that with some of the

college educated white women, and held on to those critical midwestern battlegrounds of iowa, wisconsin, michigan, and ohio. >> fascinating stuff, as usual, thank you for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >> he knows his stuff well. it is pretty shocking the accusations made against the main stream pollsters. they're professional, they do their job well. one poll that could be something, but when you have so many of them saying basically the same thing, to say they're skewed, interviewing too many democrats as opposed to republicans, they were almost precise. >> i remember them saying when we're talking about this, just wait and see how the election turns out and then we'll do our review. and you were absolutely right about that. you said the mainstream pollsters would be right in the end. and now president obama is promising to reach out to republicans, how much are democrats willing to compromise?

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democrats are certainly celebrating key victorys in the election. >> president obama won another term, and the democrats gained seats in the senate, which they already controlled, but very good news for them there. despite predictions to the contrary, the house remains firmly in republican hands. >> let's talk about that and more with congresswoman debby schwartz. congratulations. >> at the end of the day, it was not close. >> how many did you get? >> 65%. >> i'm just happy to be reelected. >> congratulations. i interviewed nancy pelosi a little while ago on october 2nd, she was pretty confident that

the 25 seats might be possible for the democrats to be the majority, listen to this exchange i had with her. >> i think that we probably have to win more than 25 -- >> can you net 25 seats? >> oh yes. >> what happened? >> she said probably have to win more than 25, and that was because after redistricting, the process put a lot of our members, previously not in a tricky situation, in one. they picked up a lot of legislative chambers and they were able to redraw a lot of lines in our favor, so we lost 17 seats and gained up to 25 seats. >> current projection has 33 new in the house -- >> with several races still to be called. >> it was a problem with candidates? was it a problem with funding? there were predictions that

democrats had a strong chance to take back the house. >> they put a phenomenal field of candidates on the field. they really did. they had the resources they needed to win. at the end of the day when you're up against a stacked deck in a district that is skewed toward republicans, it makes it harder. and don't forget in a house race, while a super pack has trouble buys the white house, they have trouble buys a senate seat, and grass roots paid off there, it's easier to have it put in a house race and i think that affected a lot of house races because there was such a lop sided amount of money. it's one of those things that absolu absolutely has to be addressed. we have to get that money out of the democratic process, it's one of the worst supreme court decisions ever. >> they said it was constitutional. >> what we can do as a congress is come together and pass

legislation like the dispose act that holds them -- >> here is the president landing at st. andrews with the first lady and his daughters. an exciting time for him, you're beaming as you think about it. you were with him last night. what -- did you have a chance to talk to him? >> i did, i talked to him, the first lady, the vice president, and mrs. biden. i'm so proud of the tens of thousands of volunteers that knocked on doors, and what was the most gratifying is we put together the most dynamic grass roots campaign, and there was a ton of money dumped on this president, but he, you know, we ran a campaign that the average contribution was $50, we ran a

door to door, neighbor to neighbor campaign and increased turnout. for months, i know we had discussions that there was an enthusiasm gap, not only there was not, we had increases in african-american turn out, youth turn out, latino turn out from over 2008. >> i know you worked hard to make sure a lot of jewish constituents -- >> yes, he got 70%. >> yes, because of the economy, there was, obviously in every demographic group, that little erosion. >> benjamin netanyahu congratulated the president today, i think we have a clip of that. >> i want to congratulate president obama on his reelection. i think the united states of america demonstrated why it's

the greatest democracy on earth. i look forward to working with president obama to further strengthen this relationship. >> that was a big issue among your constituents? the republicans and romney tried to say that the president through israel under the bus. that was the argument and romney made it at the republican convention. >> i think the reason that the president got 70% of the jewish vote, is because womens health, civil liberties, that's a natural home, and we were able to make sure the lies and distortions that they tried to sew were not working. >> john boehner today in his speech, he had a conciliatory tone, and he said the american people expect us to find common ground and we're willing to

accept some additional revenue via tax reform. what's going to happen? >> i was happy to see an olive branch. president obama had the kitchen sink thrown at him, but incite of that, voters voted to move forward, and we need to recognize that balanced approach the president talked about in the campaign is what we need to work together towards. >> you sound on mptimistic. >> i am. >> an exciting lame duck session. >> still ahead, a nor'easter is pounding the same areaing pounded by superstorm sandy. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time,

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a dismal day on wall street today, kate has that and other top stories. yes, it was tough. all three major indices were down sharply at the closing bell. they were down 2% at the closing bell. alice son kosik has details. >> the dow posted it's biggest loss of the year. it was comments from the

european central bank that sparked the selling. the election results were also a concern as wall street turns it's full attention to the biggest problem facing the urs economy, the fiscal cliff. if nothing is done about it, many economists say we'll go back into a resection. stocks will plummet and the economy will drown in quick sand. a dire forecast, but it's a huge progress. >> allison, thanks so much. >> just an hour ago, the green parliament approved austerity measures. some demonstrators through molotov cocktails and police fired tear gas. if you can believe it, a nor'easter is bringing new misery to some of the area's hardest hit a week ago by super

sto storm sandy. over 600,000 households are still without power from sandy and storm surges up to four feet up battered coastlines. >> awful. i feel so bad for these people. coming up, we have winners, losers, and lessons to be learned from the election. we'll talk about that with our political panel, and a closer look at voting problems including those long lines that some people had to stand in for hours and hours and hours to vote. is this the united states of america? what is going on. and also the president of the united states getting ready to get off air force one. he just landed , the president and his family just landed from chicago. they're going to be heading over to the white house. a european-inspired suspension, but not from germany. ♪ a powerful, fuel-efficient engine,

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there they are. the president, the first lady, sasha, malia, they have just landed outside of washington dc. they're going to get into a car and drive to the white house. apparently the weather is procolluding marine one for taking the chopper to the white house. helicopter takes eight or ten minutes, driving takes a little longer. but they don't have to worry about street lights. they're in the limo and getting ready to drive to the white house. let's talk about what's going on as we look at these pictures right now. we have been pouring over election results to figure out how president obama won and why mitt romney lost. let's discuss it with three of our expert panelists right now. anna, look at this, chris chr t

christie was asked by mitt romney lost, and he said he didn't get enough votes. with bush in 2004, he got had 44% of the latino vote, mccain got 31%, romney, yesterday, got 27% of the latino vote. the fastest growing segment of our population, what did he do wrong? >> i think he tried to establish his conservative bon fides that he didn't have. on issues that were important to latinos and he never quite recovered. i also think they started too late. it wasn't until after the primary where we saw a big blitz. mitt romney has been running for president for eight years, she should have put time and energy into it long before that.

>> the president got 93% of the american vote, 71% of the latino vote, that makes up about 23% of the total population. he only got 39% of the white vote. he got 44% last time. >> you have the republican party that's kind of backed itself into a demographic cul-de-sac where they wrapped around the white vote that's getting smaller. that's disturbing for the republican party because they need to be a party of everybody. you also have another disturbing trend and that is that the democratic party is not finding ways to atrack white folks. these are two unhealthy parties in that regard. both parties need to look at this very seriously. the fact that the african-american community came out 93%, bigger numbers percentage wise than 2008, shows a determination on the part of this community to participate. >> i thought in 2008 he got 96%.

>> you may be right on that, but to rival that 2008 turn out, that was historic, showed determination by this community to participate. i'm surprised the republican party is only saying they need to do better with the latinos. >> and david, as we're looking at pictures now of the first family heading out to the white house for the first time. i want to ask you, we hear this often when the president wins a second term, that he now has political capital. he is free from having to worry about getting reelected. his hands are not tied and he can get stuff done, does that bear out do you think? >> that's wrong. historically most second terms have been weaker at home than first terms because you have

power for a short while, and then it begins to drain away as you head toward the mid-term elections, and then after that everyone is looking over your shoulder to the next person. and therefore, you inevitably with rare exception, second terms are weaker. they spend a lot of time in foreign policy because that's where they have authority. the next few months are a huge test for the president. >> but he doesn't have to worry about getting reelected, but what he does have to worry about is his historic legacy. historians are obsessed with how historians look at the record -- >> republicans in congress don't have to worry about not getting him reelected, so i think this gives freedom to both sides to act. >> hold on, we have more to discuss. we're going to talk about the big winners and losers.

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some of the biggest winners and losers, kate, were not on the ballot. >> yes, let's talk about, we know electorally that one person one and one lost. but who do you think were the -- when you look at the election and last night and this bitter battle, who were the biggest biggers and losers. >> i would say the biggest loser is older white men, and biggest

winner, everyone except for bill clinton, anyone who is not an older white man. >> that's interesting. the ballot initiatives were really amazing things to watch. >> yeah, we'll have more of that coming up. >> i don't mean to pick on you. >> yeah. >> david, don't take it personally. i think latinos were the big winners. and the numbers on deportation verses paths to citizenship were overwhelmi overwhelming. and this initiative passed last night late in california, to raise taxes in order to not have declining schools was a big, big substantial victory. one other, nate silver. this is a fella who -- >> he looks at all of the polls, and studies them, does these

averages, and what was his record last night? 100%? >> if florida goes for obama, he called the national election and every single state. >> come of the right wingers were really killing him out there and he was right. >> and we're still waiting for the results to come in from florida. >> please don't pick on florida. we have stone crabs. >> those are a big wiper all the time. >> for me, carl rove, i think really hurt himself, he spent a million dollars, was the last dog barking say we're still going to win, it's like a death of an icon in american politics. i think the right wing talk world is diminished, but the

winners, might be that cares about liberty and justice for all has to be excited about marriage equality triumphing. this is a big shift in american politics and life, and the other winner, the much maligned community organizer, who was the scapegoat, demonized by republicans, won this election. the naacp had a million black voters. and you had youth organizations like hoodie vote, vote mom, that turned this election into a youth outpouring with no support for anybody outside of that youth community. an extraordinary victory. >> we will continue in the ground game. >> all right, guys, thanks very much. as we mentioned, gay americans and their sporters are celebrating a string of

unprecedented victories including a senate seat. ted rollins has details. >> wolf in 2006, this state voted to ban same sex marriage but last night wisconsin made history by sending tammy baldwin two the u.s. senate. in her acceptance speech, she acknowledged her roll in history, but tried to down play it's significance. >> now, i'm well aware that i will have the honor to be wisconsin's first woman u.s. senator. and i'm well aware thatly be the first openly gay member of congress. but i didn't run to make history. i ran to make a difference. >> it's a huge day. it's a huge milestone in the history of america. >> for 20 years, paul fairchild

has been fighting for gay rights. he says baldwin's win will make a difference. >> once we have openly gay people serving on a federal level, it's much harder to vote against laws that protect us. >> baldwin's victory was one of five on tuesday night that some believe signals a sea change in the way more and more american voters view the lbgt community. maine, maryland, and it appears washington have become the first to legalize it by popular vote. in minnesota, voters said no to defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. >> baldwin, who served in the house for 14 years, defeated former two-time wisconsin governor tommy thompson. despite being openly ga, her sexual identity was not a major issue in the campaign and clearly didn't seem to matter to wisconsin voters.

>> part of the reason why it wasn't a big deal has to do with what are the top issue this is year and it really was about the economy and jobs. >> besides being the first openly gay member, she's also the first female to represent the state of wisconsin in the senate. she said she is vowing to fight for all of wisconsin, specifically the middle class. wolf? very, very important. not only what's happening in wisconsin but other states as well. >> absolutely. also some voters went with enthusiasm, some left angry and frustrated. what can be done to make sure americans don't wait hours and hours to vote.es ll over the dis. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there.

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fears of an election meltdown weren't realized, thankfully, but it wasn't exactly problem free. brian todd has been looking into it for us, we saw the extremely long lines, what were some of the other problems that voters faced? >> poll monitors had to be escorted in after denied access, but it was congestion at the polling place that seemed to be the biggest embarrassment. some voters waited in seemingly endless lines. >> two hours ten minutes. >> in plantation, florida, four hours in line. some people gave up. >> people left and they won't come back, they can't come back. >> the president in his hour of glory even felt compelled to say

this. >> whether you voted for the very first time, or waited in line for a very long time, by the way, we have to fix that -- >> then there were scattered reports of voting machine problems. in pennsylvania, an embarrassing scene posted on youtube. the machine had to be recalibrated, but the machine was the problem in some swing states. the back ups should not be happening, but there are several reasons they do. congestion often builds, he says, in communities that can't afford to stream line voting. >> those communities and counties usually have to decide between paying for voting systems, roads, bridges, and

hospitals, and voting systems come in last. >> other issues cropped up as well. in some places in florida, the ballots were 12 pages long. >> another big factor was the decision by some states to cut back the early back the number of early voting days. some state legislatures rammed through voter i.d. laws, requiring people to show photo i.d.s, fill out other forms if they didn't have them. plenty of people had no trouble. but there's little doubt this is now a patch work system that's message messy, unwielding, different in every state. >> how do we fix this? should there just be one system? >> it would be difficult to fix it with just one system. the state's, some pass that authority down to the counties and give them leeway and implementati implementation. each state has its own traditions, culture. >> he says there is no one big

fix. he says after the 2000 florida recount, the federal government allocated some money to improve things and created an agency called the election assistance commission. he says the problem with that body is it doesn't work very well and has been without all four of its designated commissioners for almost a year now. a spokesman told us it doesn't have any regulative authority. they can offer advice, but it can't tell them what to do. president obama says he wants to fix this. he's got no agency. >> it's amazing, the amount of time people were waiting in line. >> this kind of stuff still goes on. >> just want to vote. >> go vote. shouldn't take six hours. people have to work. erin burnett is here. >> all kinds of ideas on how to solve that. >> erin, it's good to have you here in the cnn election center.

did a great job in ohio yesterday. let's talk about what happened on wall street. a subject you know very, very well. this is the worst plunge in a year. 300 points? >> it was. a lot of it was the u.s. election. >> you think investors were nervous about obama's winning? >> one of the biggest, bill gross of pimco, said we need to cut $1.6 billion a year. neither one was the person who's going to come in and solve this, but there was a clear view that under the president, there could be a real delay on dealing with the fiscal cliff. that's part of the reason stocks sold off today. they think we're not going to get a deal. not going to have spending cuts, so that's why you saw it, but keep in mind, the day after an election is often a weak day and the president's past four years have been good for the market. outstanding. >> 6500, it's now 13,000. almost doubled.

>> that's right. and the president has some things he wants to do. if you have dividends, not just wealthy people, a lot of older people. your taxes could go up. that means they're worth less. we'll see if they do a deal on capitol hill. maybe there will be a deal on some of those things. >> we're looking forward. top of the hour. >> loving being here on your set. >> come visit us more often. >> it's a little chilly. >> as a woman, i can agree with kate. >> i feel very comfortable. >> exactly. >> so, jeanne moos has been combing through hours and hours of election coverage. up next, she'll show us some of the -- >> right now in another key battleground state.

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first family has just arrived back at the white house. let's see if we can hear what the president's saying. very nice. they're back home now. at least for the next four years. he's been re-elected. i'm sure the girls are happy. the first lady's happy. >> where they're going to call home. it was the moment of truth on last night's election coverage. our jeanne moos looks at how the networks called the election. >> if you missed the moment live, let's relive it. >> president obama has been re-elected. >> president of the united states. >> it was a hard fought battle. >> the "colbert report" is ready to project that cnn has projected that animal planet has

predicted that the winner of the 2012 presidential election is barack obama. >> the painting a bleak picture of president obama's second term, charlotte krauthammer joked -- >> i will offer to write prescriptions for anybody who needs them. >> but obama supporters were ecstat ecstatic. speaking of rich, what would election night be without a dorn donald trump angle? -- >> this election is a total sham. we should have a revolution in this country. prompted brian williams to launch this. >> donald trump, who has driven well past the last exit to relevance -- >> exit for mitt romney was ohio after fox news called ohio for obama, network's own commentator objected. >> we've got to be careful about calling things.

>> that's awkward. >> once karl rove questioned the call and they couldn't tell he walked back there. live camera in tow -- >> keep coming. here we go. >> we're actually quite comfortable with the call in ohio. >> but the anchor who got the most flak -- >> viewers thought her delivery was strange. i'll have what diane sawyer is having -- >> president barack obama has won minnesota. >> someone else tweeted -- and diane sawyer declares tonight's winner is chardonnay. staffers say she was just exhausted and what's an anchor supposed to do when she gets the call of nature -- >> i came back from the bathroom and said colorado was too los to call. nobody told me while i was in the